Marcia Kilgore spent the first two decades of her career building Bliss Spa and Soap & Glory into brands that everyone else eventually bought, and somewhere along the way she started asking the question that inevitably haunts anyone who has seen the inside of a contract manufacturer: why do these jars cost this much on the shelf. Beauty Pie is her answer — a membership club that charges an annual fee and then sells products at something close to cost-plus, using the same labs that make the prestige brands most shoppers assume are in a different universe. The Plantastic Apricot Butter Cleansing Balm, launched in 2019 as the anchor cleanser of the brand's plant-forward range, is one of the clearest demonstrations that the model actually works. If you handed this jar to someone blindfolded, they would assume it cost three times what it does.
The first thing to understand about this balm is that it is unapologetically old-school. The base is castor oil. The third ingredient is lanolin. There is cocoa butter, microcrystalline wax, a dusting of lauric lysine to keep the texture stable, and an actual parfum for warm, comforting apricot notes. It's not a modern squalane-and-silicone minimalist cleanser trying to feel light on the skin — it is a thick, buttery, melt-on-contact balm that wants to give you the kind of five-minute ritual you associate with a spa facial. Scooping it with the little spatula, warming it between your fingers, and letting it transform into a slippery oil as it meets warm skin is pure tactile pleasure. For the right user, this is half the point.
The functional performance is similarly old-school in the best possible way. Castor oil is one of the most effective single ingredients for dissolving long-wear foundation, mineral SPF and waterproof mascara, and the ratio here is high enough that you can remove a full face of makeup in under a minute without scrubbing. Adding water slowly is the key move — the formula emulsifies into a milky cleanser thanks to the ceteareth surfactants tucked into the middle of the INCI list, and it rinses away cleanly rather than leaving the greasy film that some pure-oil balms do. Post-rinse skin feels soft and comfortable rather than stripped, which is the entire promise of a first cleanse done right.
Where things get more interesting, and more complicated, is in the ingredient hierarchy. Lanolin at the third spot is unusual in modern skincare and makes this balm a genuinely divisive product. Dermatologists generally love lanolin — it is one of the most effective emollients in the cosmetic pantry, well-studied for its effects on transepidermal water loss, and it is a significant part of why very dry winter skin feels so comfortable after using this cleanser. But lanolin is also a recognised contact allergen for a minority of users, and wool-derived ingredients remain a non-starter for strict vegans. Beauty Pie is transparent that the balm is cruelty-free rather than vegan, and the Plantastic naming is a little ironic given the animal-derived supporting cast. If lanolin is a non-issue for you, the balm is wonderful; if it is a hard no, you have your answer.
The other complication is that several of the rich emollients here — lanolin, castor oil, cocoa butter — sit in the comedogenic column for acne-prone skin. In a rinse-off product the practical comedogenic risk is lower than in a leave-on cream, but the surfactants in this formula are not aggressive, and oily users sometimes report residual heaviness. This is emphatically not the cleansing balm for combination oily skin with active breakouts. It is a balm for dry, mature, or just slightly dehydrated skin that wants comfort and an easy end-of-day ritual. Deployed inside its lane, it performs beautifully.
The rosehip oil deserves a brief, skeptical mention. Cold-pressed rosehip does contain trace carotenoids that can technically metabolise into retinoic acid, and the marketing copy sometimes leans a little hard on that fact. In a wash-off cleanser with thirty seconds of contact time, any retinoid-like benefit is essentially notional. What rosehip actually delivers here is a lightweight, linoleic-acid-rich top note that improves the balm's skin feel and contributes some antioxidant residue after rinsing. Useful, just not a wrinkle-erasing miracle.
The sensory experience is the part most reviews focus on, and it is indeed one of the most pleasant cleansing balms I have tried at any price. The scent is genuinely warm — think baked fruit and a faint confectionery sweetness — without the sharp top notes of cheaper fragranced balms, and it fades on rinse rather than clinging to the skin. The 50ml glass jar with the internal spatula feels solid and considered, and the little wax-paper lid under the cap shows the same attention to detail you find in prestige brands priced far higher. It is, in a quiet way, a very luxurious product.
Value is the part that bends around the Beauty Pie model. For members paying the subscription, this balm consistently ranks as one of the best-value cleansers in the UK skincare market — it legitimately competes with cleansing balms priced two or three times higher. For non-members paying full retail, the calculation is different, and whether it makes sense depends entirely on whether you would use enough Beauty Pie products in a year to justify the membership. If you would, add this balm to your basket without hesitation. If you only want one product and no membership, Elemis, Clinique Take The Day Off, or any number of drugstore balms will get you most of the way there for less mental overhead.
